Resend and exchange an order

When something goes wrong after a sale, you often need to send the customer replacement stock without billing them again. SKU.io gives you two purpose-built shortcuts for this, and it's worth knowing which one to reach for:

• Resend — create a free replacement order for items that were lost, damaged, or never arrived. The new order copies the lines you pick at zero cost.
• Exchange — turn an existing return credit into a brand-new order that's paid for by that credit. The customer's returned merchandise funds their replacement items.

Both actions leave the original order untouched and create a separate new order that's linked back to its source, so you keep a clean audit trail.

Before you begin

Requirement	Why it's needed
The Sales Orders → Edit permission (sales_orders.update)	Both Resend Items and Create Exchange are gated by this permission.
An existing sales order	Resend and exchange both copy lines from an order that already exists — for example SO-DOCS-0001 for Blue Bottle Retail.
A sales credit (exchange only)	Exchanges start from a credit note. You create one when you process a return — see Process returns: RMAs and credits.

Resend and exchange are different from Duplicate

Duplicating an order copies it at full price with no link back to the original. Resend zeroes the prices and links the copy as a resend; exchange keeps the prices but pays them with a return credit and links the copy as an exchange. Reach for duplicate only when you're placing a genuinely new, billable order.

Resend a free replacement

Use this when a customer's order shipped but the goods were lost or arrived broken, and you're sending replacements at no charge.

1. Open the order you want to resend from, for example SO-DOCS-0001.
2. In the order header, click the More menu.
3. Under Actions, click Resend Items. The Resend Items dialog opens.
4. Select the lines to replace. Tick each item's checkbox, or click Select All to take the whole order. The counter shows "X of Y items selected".
5. For each selected line, adjust the Qty field if you're replacing only part of it. The quantity can't exceed the original ordered quantity.
6. Click Resend Selected Items.

What you'll see: SKU.io creates a new Draft order and opens it. The new order:

• carries a -R- suffix and today's date in its number — for example SO-DOCS-0001-R-20260711;
• copies the products and quantities you selected at zero cost, so the whole replacement order totals nothing;
• is linked back to the original order as a Resend, so you can trace where the replacement came from;
• gets a fresh ship-by date recalculated from your handling-time settings (see the note below).

The replacement starts as a draft, exactly like a new order. To send the goods, approve it and allocate stock, then fulfill it as normal.

The ship-by date rolls forward off weekends

The resend's ship-by date is set to today plus your configured handling days (from Settings → Sales Orders), not copied from the original. If that lands after the same-day shipping cut-off it moves to the next day, and if it lands on a Saturday or Sunday it rolls forward to the next weekday. This keeps replacement promises realistic instead of inheriting a date that has already passed.

A resend is always zero-cost

The Resend Items dialog shows a Price field, but a resend deliberately creates the replacement lines at zero amount — it's a free replacement by design. If the customer should actually pay for the new items, don't use resend; create a new order or an exchange instead.

Create an exchange

Use this when a customer returns goods for credit and wants different or replacement items in their place. The exchange order is funded by the return credit, so the customer pays nothing extra.

Exchanges start from the sales credit you raise during the return, not from the order's own menu.

1. Process the return and issue a sales credit for the order — see Process returns: RMAs and credits.
2. Open that credit from the Credits tab of the order, or from Inventory → Sales Credits.
3. On the credit, open the Exchanges tab.
4. Click Create Exchange. The Create Exchange dialog opens, listing the product lines on this credit — the items that were returned. That's a subset of the original order, not every product on it.
5. Tick the lines to exchange and set each row's Exchange Qty. Each line shows its returned Qty, and Exchange Qty defaults to — and is capped at — that credited (returned) quantity. You can exchange up to what was returned, not the full original order quantity.
6. Click Create Exchange Sales Order.

What you'll see: SKU.io creates a new order and confirms "Exchange has been processed!". The exchange order:

• carries an -E- suffix and today's date in its number — for example SO-DOCS-0001-E-20260711;
• copies the selected products at their original prices (unlike a resend, which zeroes them);
• is paid in full by the return credit — a payment for the order total is recorded against it using the Sales Credit payment type;
• is approved automatically, so it moves straight to Open rather than starting as a draft;
• is linked to the sales credit it was funded from, and appears back on that credit's Exchanges tab.

Open the exchange order and you'll see a Funded by Credit banner with an Exchange Order chip, linking to the sales credit that paid for it. From there, allocate and fulfill the exchange like any open order.

Why the exchange is already paid and approved

Because the returned merchandise credit covers the new items, SKU.io settles the exchange order against that credit and approves it in one step — there's nothing to invoice the customer for. This is why an exchange, unlike a resend, doesn't land as an editable draft. If you need to change what's on it, treat it as a normal open order (revert to draft or edit within the usual edit guards).

Resend vs. exchange at a glance

	Resend	Exchange
Start from	The order's More → Resend Items menu	A sales credit's Exchanges tab
Line prices	Zeroed — free replacement	Kept at original prices
Paid by	Nothing (zero total)	The return credit
New order status	Draft	Open (approved automatically)
Number suffix	-R- + date	-E- + date
Linked to	The original order (Resend link)	The sales credit (Exchange link)
Best for	Lost or damaged goods you replace for free	A return where the customer takes different items

Both new orders are independent of the original: approving, fulfilling, or closing the replacement has no effect on the source order's own status.

Next steps

• Process returns: RMAs and credits — raise the sales credit an exchange is built from.
• Record payments and apply store credit — how the Sales Credit payment behind an exchange is recorded.
• Approve, reserve, and allocate stock — get a resend or exchange ready to ship.
• Fulfill a sales order — ship the replacement goods.
• Returns, credits, and refunds — how returns, credits, and money-back fit together.